FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional vehicle lighting fixture 600.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the conventional vehicle lighting fixture 600 can include laser light sources 612, condenser lenses 614, optical deflectors (MEMS mirrors) 616, a wavelength conversion member (phosphor panel) 618, and a projector lens 620. Laser light emitted from the laser light sources 612 can be two-dimensionally scanned by the respective optical deflectors 616. The two-dimensionally scanned laser light can form a luminance distribution on the wavelength conversion member 618. The formed luminance distribution can be projected by the projector lens 620 to thereby allow the vehicle lighting fixture 600 to form a predetermined light distribution pattern corresponding to the luminance distribution. This type of vehicle lighting fixture can include those proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-222238 (or US2011/0249460A1 corresponding thereto), for example.
In the vehicle lighting fixture 600 described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-222238, when the optical deflectors 616 breaks down, the faulty optical deflectors 616 may improperly deflect the laser light to locally irradiate the wavelength conversion member 618 with the laser light. As a result, part of the wavelength conversion member 618 may melt to form a hole therein or be cracked. In this case, the laser light deflected in a particular direction may pass through the hole or cracked space in the wavelength conversion member 618 to be projected directly forward through the projector lens 620 without wavelength conversion.